Barcelona had been drawn into a week of uncomfortable questions. By the time Alavés left the Camp Nou on Saturday night, none of them were about the scoreline.
Raphinha struck twice before half-time, Fermín López added a dinked finish in the 23rd minute and Lamine Yamal buried a sweeping move at 45+1′. Yamal picked up a second shortly after the hour and Anthony Gordon finished the rout with nine minutes left. Mariano Díaz grabbed a consolation for the visitors in the 84th minute, according to live coverage of the match.
The result put Barcelona back on top of La Liga and buried, for one night at least, a run of two consecutive defeats to Real Madrid in El Clásico and to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
131 matches to 100 wins
The win was also a personal landmark for Flick. His 100th victory in charge arrived in his 131st official match, making him the second-fastest manager in the club’s history to reach the figure. Only Luis Enrique has done it quicker, in 126 games, as Barcelona confirmed on Sunday.
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Flick’s win rate stands at 76.33%, the highest of any coach in the club’s history. He took charge in 2024 and racked up 44 wins in each of his first two seasons before adding 12 from the opening 14 matches of this campaign.
“I am really happy about this. 100 wins, it’s great. When we started, we hoped we would have 100 games for Barça, so 100 victories is a great situation,” Flick told reporters.
Title race reshuffled again
Barcelona now sit on 30 points from 11 La Liga matches, two clear of Atlético Madrid and six ahead of Real Madrid. Raphinha, with his latest double, moved to 15 league goals, four ahead of Kylian Mbappé and five clear of Yamal in the Pichichi race.
Alavés, who have won only once in their last eight league fixtures, remain in the lower half of the table.
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A warning, a barbecue, then a rout
Pressure had been building. A 4-2 defeat at PSG on 20 October was followed five days later by a 2-1 loss to Real Madrid in El Clásico at the Camp Nou, with Flick’s team conceding six goals across the two matches. The dressing room’s answer, as recounted via BarcaUniversal, was to urge perspective rather than panic.
“We weren’t the best team in history before, and now we’re not a disaster,” one squad source told The Athletic.
Senior players also organised a barbecue at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper during the week to steady nerves before Alavés arrived.
Barcelona’s next test is at the Camp Nou on Tuesday against Aston Villa in the Champions League, followed by a trip to Atlético Madrid in La Liga on Saturday 8 November.
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